Question Period Note: Northern Contaminated Sites Program

• Our Government is committed to the protection of human health and safety and the environment, as well as the development of economic opportunities for northerners and Indigenous partners.

• This is why our Government has renewed the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan and made significant investments in the Northern Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program.

• We will continue to collaborate with communities, Indigenous partners, Territories and interested stakeholders to protect Canadians and the environment.

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• Our Government has invested $9.1 billion over 15 years in the Northern Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program to remediate Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada’s eight largest abandoned mine projects.

• The long-term remediation contracts that can be secured through this program will result in a significant improvement to the ongoing protection of human health and safety and the environment for northerners and Indigenous Peoples by ensuring that these large abandoned mine projects are cleaned up.

• The Government of Canada has renewed the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan, led by Environment and Climate Change Canada, with $1,476.3 million in funding over five years, starting in 2025, with CIRNAC’s allocation being $253 million.

• Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada will be able to access this funding to address many contaminated sites in its inventory.

• Our Government continues to work in partnership with the Government of Yukon and Indigenous partners to advance the long-term remediation plan while managing immediate risks to both human health and the environment at Faro Mine.

• We are aiming to start implementing the final remediation plan in 2028-29.

• We will continue to collaborate with communities, Indigenous partners, Territories and interested stakeholders to protect Canadians and the environment.

• Our Government continues to work with the Government of the Northwest Territories, Indigenous rights holders and partners, and other stakeholders to advance the cleanup and remediation of Giant Mine.

• The five-year land use permit was issued on August 7, 2020, and the twenty-year water license was issued on September 18, 2020.

• These regulatory approvals allowed the Government to begin remediation at the site, including breaking ground on the non-hazardous waste landfill, in July 2021.

• The new water treatment plant began construction in June 2023 with substantial completion in the Fall of 2025. Commissioning will take place in 2026.